


Unexpected

by cofax



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28065585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cofax/pseuds/cofax
Summary: After two years they had emptied the lockers.  A long-delayed sequel toSilencedandUnforgotten.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

After two years, they had emptied the lockers. Sam allowed herself to keep only the nameplates, which she had Siler mount on a plaque she hung behind her office door, where almost no one could see it.

New teams came, full of astonished enthusiasm or -- blessedly -- skepticism. Green lieutenants aged, if they were lucky, into wary, hard-eyed majors, accompanied by glossy young airmen who similarly grew into grim staff sergeants. And the brass at the Pentagon kept extending Sam's tour, while her junior officers found positions in Pegasus, in the growing fleet, or at one of the FOBs they were slowly establishing on former Goa'uld worlds.

And then one day the off-world activation alarm sounded. It was Sheppard, who had walked out the Mountain on a Friday as a full Colonel and walked back in on Monday morning in civilian clothes. He was now the Director of Atlantis, and unlikely, Sam thought, ever to return to the Milky Way Galaxy.

"General," Sheppard said, over the secure video line. He looked unsettled, and kept glancing away from the camera. He was in his office, but there was clearly someone else in the room, from the rustling in the background.

Sam raised her eyebrow at the formality. "What can I do for Atlantis, Director Sheppard?"

Sheppard turned his head and glared at someone out of view, then looked back at the camera. "I don't know how else to say this. General, we found them."

"We found SG-1."


	2. Chapter 2

John forced himself to meet Sam's eyes -- _Sam_ , not _General Carter_ for this -- so she knew this wasn't some cruel hoax. 

Her brow furrowed, her mouth opened, and then John found himself shoved aside. His chair rolled sideways and bounced off the wall, and he caught himself with a hand on the edge of the desk. 

O'Neill hunched over the laptop, peering into the screen at Carter's pixelated -- and gobsmacked -- expression. "Carter! Daniel, look, it's Carter!" His voice was too loud for the office, and hoarse, as if he'd been screaming at a football game.

... screaming, anyway. John grimaced.

O'Neill's companions stayed where they were, by the door. They had changed even more than O'Neill. John remembered Daniel Jackson as an even-tempered civilian with a stubborn streak, and a build that belied his academic reputation; now he was rail-thin and ragged, with hair tangled in his eyes and clothes that looked like they had been scavenged from half a dozen worlds. He hadn't met John's eyes in the twenty minutes since they'd been escorted through the Gate.

Teal'c, whom John had never known well, was as tall as ever, but his dark hair was liberally sprinkled with white, and he moved like a man in pain. When he put his hand on Jackson's arm, John saw the Jaffa was missing three fingers from his left hand. 

While O'Neill shouted at Carter and Jackson huddled at the door, John tapped his radio. This was a call he should have made earlier, but O'Neill had been so insistent that he'd bent the rules.

"Medical, who's on duty?"

"I am, Director. Is there an emergency?" The voice that answered was Doctor Yin, a genial middle-aged civilian from Hong Kong who had been in Pegasus for the last three years. Yin was legendarily unflappable, which was a vital trait in Atlantis.

"I have three refugees in my office, and I think they'd be more comfortable if you came here." This was not the first time they'd had guests too skittish to go all the way to Medical, although they usually didn't include SGC top brass.

"On my way."

John glanced at Jackson and Teal'c--they didn't look like they were going anywhere—and then back at O'Neill. There was something odd about the color of O'Neill's face, as he gabbled at the laptop. John squinted, and surveyed the filthy, ragged figure more closely: the leader of Earth's legendary front-line team was, John suddenly realized, _bleeding_ on his office floor. 

John lurched to his feet, and got his hand under O'Neill's arm only a moment before O'Neill swayed, staggered, and collapsed backward. "Medic!" John shouted, just as Yin squeezed past Teal'c in the doorway.

"I told Jack he needed to do something about that," muttered Jackson to no one in particular.


End file.
